Guy Walters is the author of nine books, which include four wartime thrillers and the critically acclaimed histories Hunting Evil and Berlin Games. Frustrated at the enormous amount of junk history around, Guy sees it as his personal mission to wage war on ignorance and misconceptions about the past. Guy is currently working on a new history of the Great Escape, and is also studying for his PhD at Newcastle University. His website is www.guywalters.com and is @guywalters on Twitter.

My friend Alexander has his first bullfight today – do you wish him well?

If there’s one topic that polarises opinion more than Jon Snow’s empty lapel, it’s bullfighting. I’m not going to replay all the arguments for and against, because it’s an issue in which you can never hope to change your opponent’s mind, even if he or she accepts your points are fair.

Why is this? It’s because nobody wishes to identify themselves with the other camp, even if they secretly think that the other camp is right – the required shift in political identity is just too huge. Many agree with bullfighting simply because they cannot bear to be associated with those who disagree, who they will probably regard as being pinko vegetarians. Antis meanwhile, will never acknowledge any validity in arguments advanced by bloodthirsty sadists.

I’m cautiously supportive of bullfighting, for all the normal reasons of choice, quality of bovine life, its comparative lack of cruelty compared to other forms of slaughter, the Spanish agricultural economy, etc etc. I can understand the reasons why people oppose it, but it’s important to remember that bullfighting is not a sport, but a theatrical form of slaughter. It’s not meant to be ‘fair’ – the bull is supposed to die.

Naturally, this is the result I am hoping for at the end of the first fight of my friend Alexander Fiske-Harrison. Today he faces a Saltillo who he has called ‘Guido’ (not after me, but because of today’s date). I, for one, wish him well, and I'm sorry that I can't be there.

Agree with Alexander or not, I do urge you to look at his blog, in which he thoughtfully examines bullfighting and his motives for becoming a bullfighter. No matter on which side you sit, you’ll learn a lot.